SAN BERNARDINO: Arts council resurrected

After six years of dormancy, the Arts Council of San Bernardino County is coming back to life.

The new agency, dubbed the Arts Connection, will get its official kickoff at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, at the County Government Center in San Bernardino. Arts Connection Executive Director Andy Woods said the agency has been operating in start-up mode for several months.

âThis is the first public event to launch it,â Woods said.

It is one of five launch events planned for various cites in the county.

In 2006, the countyâs arts council, which had offices and gallery space in a building near Fifth and E Streets in San Bernardino, closed after several years of diminishing support from the county and other agencies. San Bernardino County became one of a very few in the state without an arts council.

For the past four years, as many as 75 people have been working to re-establish the council. The effort was spearheaded by Daniel Foster, who is the chairman of the councilâs board of directors. Foster, the former executive director of the Community Foundation in Riverside, now is director of the Oceanside Museum of Art.

Woods said the purpose of the arts council is to serve as an umbrella agency, supporting local artists and art organizations by assisting in grant writing, hosting an online gallery and promoting public art, among other activities.

âThe main effort is to support projects that build community through the arts,â he said.

Woods, 40, is former director of the Morongo Basin Arts Council, which promotes art and artists in desert communities such as Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms.

He said the Arts Connection has pulled together $295,000 in funding. Major donors include the National Arts Foundation, the California Arts Council, the Irvine Foundation and San Bernardino County.

Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Janice Rutherford will among the community leaders speaking at the event on Thursday.

Rutherford said an arts council can help promote the arts as an element of redevelopment and in making the community more attractive to visitors.

âItâs a vital part of being a whole community,â she said. âThe residents of this county are looking for a quality of life, and they expect that quality of life to be well rounded.â

A key element in the failure of the last arts council was a lack of funding from the county, which has struggled with its budget in recent years. For the current fiscal year, the board appropriated $110,000 for the arts council.

âI would hope that (the Arts Council) would continue to be a priority of the board,â Rutherford said, âbut weâre going to be looking for actual results.â

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